"Footprints" commission... complete!

Hi folks! So here's the final result of the "Footprints" poem I was commissioned to do by a friend. Finished it two weeks ago now I think, & took me [all in all, counting the hours] roughly 2-3 days to complete. Enjoyed working on this & as always, learnt a lot... Aside from a few niggly things that [I feel] I didn't quite nail, I'd say it's pretty close to what I originally envisioned reading the poem... so I'm happy!

Thanks to those who dropped feedback on the first WIP post I made; Nathan, Ant, Dawn & Shaun. Thanks especially to Shaun for taking the time to put together the image breakdown directly below. Shaun was kind enough to take a few minutes out to do a rough paint-over on my WIP to help break up some of the symmetry with subtle shape/ compositional shifts... Thanks again dude, it definitely helped. Hop over to Shaun's site to check out some of his amazing work & say, "hi".

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And here's my lovely friend [& pleased to say, "happy customer"] Tanya, sat next to the super high resolution artwork I emailed her just before she headed out to get it printed, framed & wrapped as a Christmas gift for her friend ; )

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*** If interested & would like to make an inquiry on personalised/ custom artwork, feel free to drop me a line at max@maximajination.com Should hopefully have an online store up & running soon [just working out the business end] so you'll also be able to purchase my artwork from there*** ;)


Thanks for stoping by folks!

-M-

A Merry Christmas card!

1 down... 1000x more to go...! Here's a fun lil' Christmas card I just did for a friend & fellow artist. Hop over to his blog & check out his stuff ; ) Happy Holiday's Mike!

... and a little time lapse recording of it in progress... Enjoy!


-M-

Footprints [painting commission]

Hi guys! So it looks like 2011's just about done eh? Man, I remember January- February, but what happened after that...? Anyways, bring on 2012 I say! Lots I'm praying- expecting- preparing for, so very much looking forward to the new year; & I hope you guys are too?

OK, so I was recently commissioned by a good friend to do a painting on my own rendition of a well known poem written in 1936 by Mary Stevenson* titled "Footprints". The poem basically is about a person having gone through many tribulations in life; thinking God absent to them; but questioning Him, only to discover He was there all along, & in fact the sole reason they were able to get through it...

I actually remember having this poem framed in the house as a kid, & always loved the imagery... Typically, since the poem paints a picture of a beech & footsteps in the sand, every presentation of it generally has the same scenic photo/ beech composition, with the seashore to the side... I wanted to change this up a bit, making it a little more personal to her [or rather, the the friend she explained she's giving it to as a framed gift]. Did quite a bit of research on the many photo/ illustrated variations there are of this poem just so I had a sort-of cliché guide [so to speak] of what I didn't want it to look like. Here's the one we had in the living room growing up [still love the image].

Below is a WIP of my own version... The two directly below are the line work/ layout guide [left], then a 1st rough colour mood [right]...

... & where I'm at so far.

I hope you guys like how it's coming along, & as always, feel free to drop me a comment & let me know what you think ; )

-M-

T-1000 [Planet Pulp Fan Art]

Came across this fun blog a couple months ago called planet-pulp. Basically a bunch of guys who share a keen interest & love of everything 'Pulp culture'; from old TV sitcoms to classic movies, comics etc... Every month they have a chosen theme in which they produce several pieces of art as homage to that particular bit of Pulp.

Being a real lover of this kinda stuff, I decided to throw something in myself... This months theme tributes the legendary VFX master we knew as Stan Winston... A dream theme for any kid alive in the 80's, who loved films with monsters & scribbled with pencils #spoiltforchoice! Let's see, there was "The Thing"? "Terminator" #1? "Predator"? "Aliens"...? & that's just to name a few in the 80's, not to mention the icons he created in the 90's...

I decided I'd go with Terminator #2 Judgment Day's T-1000... As I resist all urges to write an essay on how much I still love this film, I'll just say watching this as a 11-12yr old, Robert Patrick scared the CRAP out of me, haha! Anyways, not so much a caricature as it is a character re-design of how I saw him in the movie as a kid, here's my submission, hope you like it? Drop a comment below, FB share, Like or Tweet & let me know what you think. THANKS GUYS!

©Maxwell. A. Oginni 2011

Hop over to the Planet Pulp blog also & check out the awesome submissions there... For outside contributors [of which I am] , if you'd like to take part, add them on twitter for details.

-M-

Shhhh... Poster #3 Sneak Peak...

S'up guys! Excuse my short absence on here due to setting up the second blog for my sketch-work... Been working like a mad man these past few weeks/ months on various projects; all very much worth the grind though, Hard work + Diligence + Patience = PROGRESS!!! Speaking of progression, I'm very nearly done with my next Vintage Movie-poster piece- WOOHOO! I'm now basically working on several posters at a go... So far it's working out pretty well but as always, I'll keep you updated with my progress in stages. In the meantime here's a little teaser section of my next piece... Hope you guys like it so far?

























-M-

Speed paint #11

Hi guys, I've set up a new blog just for my warm-ups, sketches & development work. I figured I'd just keep this blog specifically for finished stuff so it's not all over the place... You'll now find my sketchwork at maxidoodle.blogspot.com. To those already 'following' me here, I'd LOVE your 'follow-support' there too... to new visitors, if you likes what ya see, feel free to 'follow' me here & on my Sketchblog... I'd appreciate the support & some lovely company. Thanks guys! ; )


Oh, here's Today's Sketch-ercise... This weeks theme...? '1940's-50's Hollywood Glamour' [character exploration]... Ps: Hot dang, check out the chin on her!!!

-M-

Sketchpad doodles...

Hope you're all having a good'ol weekend? If not, don't worry, here's a bunch of mostly disgruntled faces to cheer you up = )

-M-

Speed paint #10

Here's Tuesday's Sketch-ercise...

Click image to view in correct size

-M-

Speed paint #9

Hi guys, here's Monday's sketch-ercise... Originally thought I was gonna end up with some sort of misty lake-type scene but then my hand did this... There's an awesome vid of American painter/ illustrator George Pratt where he explains, "if I just dive in & let the line- let the drawing tell me where it needs to go, I'm open to more happy accidents... trust your instincts"... I try to take this on board as much as I can these days... George is an amazing talent; he gives great advice & is also a real nice guy- check out some of his online video workshops if you get a chance [definitely worth it].

Click image to view in correct size

-M-

'The Jewel & the Thief'

Okay, I finally finished off this piece from a few weeks back [here's the original post I made]... Having now properly attempted this process of working monochromatically [to begin with] for the first time, I have to say I really do appreciate the method; definitely does help with locking down tonal values early on, without having 'colour palette' decisions as added equations for your brain to calculate... just helps to break up the process. All in all, it's a great way of speeding up your workflow if you're on a tight deadline or just generally... Bellow is the finished piece & a slideshow of the key stages I went through to completion... I did want to place the images here, but because of how sporadic blogger always seems to place 'side by side' pics, I opted for slides. If you have any idea how to get around this, please... enlighten me ; )

'The Jewel & The Thief' ©Maxwell. A. Oginni 2011

My mood board.

-M-